Prague's newest tram line opens with retro and historic vehicles

Prague unveiled the completion of new tram tracks from Sídliště Barrandov to Holyně this weekend with a ceremony on Friday that included tours on sightseeing trams including the retro T3 Coupé and one of the city's historic vehicles.

As of Saturday, the new line is operational after about a year of construction. Currently, Prague's no. 4 tram is carrying passengers on the new tracks, but only due to nearby construction that has resulted in line changes. From Monday, August 11, the no. 5 tram will take over this new route.

Construction of the new tracks was largely funded by EU grants; of costs estimated at 260 million crowns, EU funding covered about 200 million.

The new tram tracks run about one kilometer long, and contain two stops: Náměstí Olga Scheinpflugová and Holyně. While the Holyně stop takes passengers into what is currently a mostly-empty field, a large housing project will be completed in the area in the coming years.

Up to three thousand new apartments will be built at Holyně over the next fifteen years, and residents moving in will already have prime public transport access thanks to the new tracks.

"Although it seems silly to build new [tram] tracks in a field, it is, on the contrary, an example of conceptual planning, which we have been striving for over the last three years," Prague's Deputy Mayor Petr Hlaváček says in a press release.

"A new district is already growing there, which we are working on with Prague 5 [...] The new residents will thus be moving into a functioning district with transport services."

Holyně won't be the final stop on the extended line: next spring, construction will begin on further extending the line to the nearby Slivenec neighborhood. The tracks currently end at Holyně, meaning only two-way cars can make use of them; once completed, the extension to Slivenec will be a standard loop that transitions vehicles to the other direction without interruption.

"We have achieved record successes in the development of tram lines. I believe that the newly opened line to Holyně will please residents of Sliven and Barrandov, as well as others," says Prague Mayor Zdeněk Hřib, who also praised other recent developments in Prague's tram system.

"We have also recently completed the Zahradní Město tram loop, opened a renewed line in Pankrác, started the new construction of a tram line to Libuše and are building the Depo Hostivař interchange. We are preparing tram lines to Sliven, Dědina and Strahov Stadium."

"In the future, we also expect the tracks to continue in the direction of Muzeum and Wenceslas Square, where trams will soon return."